Final Fantasy XV Director’s Next Project Has Already Been Started; Post-Launch Feedback Helped The Team Notice The Plot Holes

Hajime Tabata has been working extremely hard on Final Fantasy XV, and his job wasn’t done even when the game released last year, as he and his team are trying to improve the game with new story sequences and features introduced through updates. It seems like the game’s director won’t be getting rest anytime soon, as his next project has already started, despite previous claims.

Speaking with Game Revolution, Hajime Tabata confirmed that his next project has already started. He obviously couldn’t talk about it, but it sounds like it’s not strictly related to Final Fantasy XV.

In the same interview, Hajime Tabata has been asked about the infamous Final Fantasy XV plot holes, which are being filled with updates and DLC. Apparently, the team didn’t notice them until the game was released, as they were just fully focused on getting the game out and make sure that the core experience worked.

While developing the game, up until release, we didn’t have that awareness. It was hard to see (things that required more explanation). What we valued most highly was that core experience of goin gon a journey with your friends. In order to realize that, we wanted to have enough content in there to make it feel right and to feel like that works. We were more worried about, “If that’s the full 100%, how much is that is story, combat, the adventure?”

We put everything we had into it. We put our lives on the line. We were like madmen just trying to complete the game. At that time, we just couldn’t see outside of that, just had to focus on getting the game out. Obviously, after we released the game, we started getting feedback, and then we started to realize maybe some things weren’t as fully explained as they could’ve been.

Tabata also added that the team did think about what could have been done to improve the game, but they reached a point where they just had to stop and complete the game’s development. Going back and fix what is wrong with it, however, has proven to be a learning experience for the team.

Final Fantasy XV is now out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It will release on PC next year.